Convertible railway freight cars



F. TATARCHUK 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 f f n l l r r r l r l l l I l l l I Ir lj", Il

CONVERTIBLE RAILWAY- FREIGHT CARS May l5, 1962 Filed Sept. ll. 1957 May 1`5, 1962 F. TATARCHUK 3,034,454

CONVERTIBLE RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS Filed sept. 1'1, 1957 s sheds-sheet 2 lumen/o7' F. rA 7A @cH/JK May 15, 1962 F'iled Sept. l1, 1957 F. TATARCHUK CONVERTIBLE RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 v n n l l l n l I Y U- Z a 9 '111111, 7414714 :a a g .ya .51 I i 6E( b1 f ai? 52 .52 i

.sa lng-11 J1 55' 5,7 Invezforf 1L; y y f: 7A rARcH//K United States Patent O 3,034,454 CONVERTIBLE RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS Fred Tatarchuk, 7633 Broadway St., Ville La Salle, Quebec, Canada Filed Sept. 11, 1957, Ser. No. 683,395 2 Claims. (Cl. 10S- 243) This invention relates to improvements in freight cars of the type which is convertible from a box car to a grain conveying car.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a sideloading box car with a plurality of discharge hopper-s beneath the flooring thereof, particularly adjacent the side openings and novel closure device in the oorlng for said hoppers which may serve the dual purpose of sealing the hopper lling opening into the car when the latter is ernployed as an ordinary box car, or which can be 'swung open to admit grain to the hopper and at the same time provide a substantial closure for the side opening of the car of the type employed when feeding grain to the car interior.

Another object is to provide a novel reinforcing and supporting means for the hopper inlet closure device which is designed to reduce damage to the closure device when the latter is in position within the hopper inlet opening.

A further object is to provide a novel closure trap for the discharge end of the hopper and interlocking means between said trap and hopper to ensure that grain will not be accidentally evacuated from the hopper.

The -above and other objects and the characteristic features of this invention will be understood more readily from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FlG. l is a horizontal sectional view of a car embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is a sectional View taken yalong the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail view of one of the hoppers shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the hopper shown in FIG. 4. Y

FIG. 6 is another fragmentary view in perspective.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view, enlarged, showing the locking mechanism of FIG. 6.

FG. 8 is a sectional view taken `along the line 8 8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view illustrating the side opening closure of FIG. 2.

FIG. lO is a sectional view taken along the line ill-1d of FIG. 9.

FIG. ll is a sectional view taken along the line 11-11 of FIG. 9.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5, 6, 7 and 8 indicate the Side, floor, roof and end walls, respectively, of a freight car having the usual loading openings 9 in the side walls 5 which are closable by conventional sliding doors on the exterior of the car. The side walls 5 and end walls 8 are provided with an inner or lining wall 11.

Adjacent each side opening 9 is provided -a bottom or oor opening 12 formed through the oor 6 of the car. The floor openings 9 are directly over hoppers 14 which are suspended beneath the car oor. Each hopper is defined by a forwardly inclined rear wall 15, end walls 16 and a short channel shaped plate member 17 at the front having its web portion extending longitudinally in a vertical plane coinciding with the outer surface of the side wall inner lining 11. The upper flange 18 of channel member 17 extends inwardly so that its upper surface ice lies along the horizontal plane of the under surface of the oor 6 of the car. The lower ange 19 also extends inwardly and provides a suitable anchorage for a horizontal hinge 20 the other portion of which is secured to the upper end of a hopper door 2l which extends across the open front side of the hopper 14 beneath the front channel shaped plate i7. The hopper door 21 is provided with inwardly directed marginal bottom and end flanges 22 which overlap the adjacent marginal edges of the rear wall 15 and end walls 16 when the door is in its closed position.

A hopper door locking mechanism, generally indicated at 2S, is mounted on the door 21 adjacent its lower end. This mechanism comprises a plate 26 slidable on said door by means of pins 27 carried by said door and projecting through horizontal slots 28 in said plate. Plate 26 is also provided with two rectangular openings 2.9 at opposite sides of a central opening 30, the latter serving only to reduce the Weight of said plate. Across each opening Z9 and secured at opposite ends thereof extends a. spiral rack 31 which engages a worm gear 32 which is xed to rotate in bearings 33 carried by a frame 34 which straddles member 31 within the opening 2,9 and is secured to the door 21 by rivets 35. A shaft 36 is connected to both worm( gears 32 to rotate them simultaneously.

The lower end of plate 26 is provided with a plurality vof uni-directional L-shaped lingers 33 which are yadapted to interlock with a plurality of oppositely disposed unidirectional L-shaped fingers 39 carried by the lower end of the rear wall 15 of the hopper. Rotation of the worm gears 32 in one direction by any suitable means (not shown) through the medium of shaft 35 will cause the gears 32. to impart movement of plate 26 relative to the door by means of engagement withthe spiral toothed member 31 so that the fingers 38 and 39 will interlock as shown in the drawings. Reverse movement of the worm gears 32V will move the fingers 3S out of engagement with fingers 39 to per-mit opening of the hopper door.

The upper region of each hopper 14Y is provided with a grating or baille which comprises a plurality of L- shaped bars 4? extending in parallel spaced relation between the channel plate member 17 and the rear wall 15. Each bar 4d has its ridge defined by the juncture of its flanges directed upwardly and is secured at one end by lateral projections 4l to the channel plate 17 below the car floor level a predetermined distance. The bars 4i) extend horizontally across the hopper and are secured by lateral projections 42 to the rear wall 15 the same vertical distance below the car door level. The disposition of the bar ridges as above described prevents pocketing of granular material and like particles and at the same time prevents the passage of large foreign matter.

The openings 12 in the floor 6 over each hopper 14 are closed by a folding door device, generally indicated at 45. The door device comprises upper and lower panel sections 46 and 47 hingedly connected to each other, as indicated at 48, to be folded together about a horizontal axis. The lower panel 47 is also hingedly mounted at its lower end to the frame of the freight car adjacent the outer side of the oor opening 12 to swing about a horizontal axis, as indicated at 49.

As shown at the right hand side of FIG. 3 the folding door device 45 is arranged with the lower end of panel 47 pivotally mounted within an angle bar 5G which is supported on the upper flange 13 of channel plate member 17 so that when the door device is displaced from the floor opening 12, that is, the lower panel 47 is swung upwardly about its hinge 49 and the upper panel 46 is swung upwardly about its hinge connection 4S to lower panel 47, it will fill the width of the adjacent car side opening 9 between the edges of thel inner lining wall 11 and for a substantial height of said side opening 9. Bars 51 pivoted at 52 to the lining wall 11 are swingable to extends across adjacent margins of the inner surface of said panels 46 and 47 (see/FIG. 9) to holdY them in position as an auxiliary grain side door closure. This provides afrelatively narrow opening at the top through which grain may be fed during the car filling operation. A panel 53 hingedly connected adjacent the roof of the 'car as indicated at 54 is swingable downwardly to close the reinainderof the car side opening 9 when the car is lled to the standard level.

VThe inner surface of lower door panel 47 is reinforced by outer ribs 55 and intermediate ribs 56 (see FIG. 9). As shown inFlG. ll, in cross-section, ribsr55 are shaped to provide a channel shaped central reinforcing projection 57 and lateral side flanges 58 which are iiatly secured to' the inner surface of the panel 47. One of the fianges 58 has a forwardly projecting margin 61 which protectively covers the adjacent ends ofthe panel 47. v The crossj Upper panel 46 is provided on its inner Ysurface with reinforcing ribs ,56 whichare staggered relative to the ribs 56 on panel 47 to permit folding of the one panel against the other'with staggered vribs therebetween.

As shown at the left hand side of FIG. 3 andin FIG.

A lathe door panels 46 and Y47 are in folded relation cover- Ying the door opening 12. The panel 47 has been pivoted about the axis 49 so that its free end rests on the upper 4 opening adjacent the bottom of the corresponding side loading opening to swing about a horizontal axis, said closure member comprising a pair of panel sections including a first panel having one side hinged at one side of the discharge openingin the iloor in the horizontal plane of said discharge opening, and in the vertical plane of the corresponding 'side loading opening, "a secondpanel hinged along one side to the side of said first panel re. mote from its hinged connection to the discharge opening to swing about a second horizontal axis relative to said first panel, said second panel being swingable to an extended position when the first panel is swung upwardly about the rst horizontal axis whereby the combined rst and second panels lie within said side opening for a substantial height from the bottom of ,saidV side loading opening, said second panel also being swingable toa position folded` upon said first panel when the latter is swung downwardly to a position closing said discharge opening so that, when closing the discharge opening, the outer snrface of said first panel is llush with the upper surface of the car floor and the second Vpanel is disposed to underlie the rst panel in support of same, channelsection reinforcing members extending in laterally'spaced Y relation across the inner surface of said first panel between the opposed hinged edges of said first panel and channel-section reinforcing members extending in laterally portion of hopper rear wall 15 with the outer surface of.Y Y i panel 47 flush with the upper surface of the floor 6. rThe panel 46 underlies panel 47 from its hinge connection 48 and with its free end beneath the upper liange 18 of channel member 17 and is directly supported by the grating bars 40. n

With this latter Varrangement Vthe car can readily be utilized as a regular box car since the side openings 9 may be utilized by opening the conventional sliding doors 1# in the usual manner. avi/'ith this arrangement also the staggered reinforcing ribs 5' and 56 on the inner surfaces of the folded panels 46 and 47 serve to reinforce and support the panel `47 whenheavytraiic is moved thereover.

preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that changes and modifications may be resorted to Within the scope and spirit ofrthis invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is: Y

l. A convertible freight car having a loading opening in opposing side walls, a discharge opening in the door adjacent each car side loading opening, a hopper supported below each of said discharge openings and provided with an outwardly directed opening front side face and a hopper door closure means therefor, a dual-purpose closure member hinged to one side of each discharge spaced relation across the inner lsurface of said second panel between its hinged edges to the first panel and the opposing edge thereof, said reinforcing members of each panel being in staggered relation whereby, when the panels are in folded relation, the reinforcing members of one panel are in lia-t contact with the adjacent surface of the Y opposing panel, and a grill extending across the hopper Having thus described what is'now believed to be the Y adjacent the discharge opening of the car floor and spaced therefrom a predetermined distance Yto flatly support said second panel when the latter is underlying the rst panel in its closed position across the discharge opening.

2. A convertible freight car as set vforth in claim 1, in which said grill comprises a plurality of L.section bars extending in parallel relation between the front and rear sides of the hopper to flatly support said closure member when extending across the vdischarge opening, said L- section bars having their ridges defined by the juncture of its flanges directed upwardly. 

